Three cruise ships with 5076 tourists docked in Dubai in the first week of November, giving a big boost to fast-growing cruise tourism at the start of the cruising winter season.
Tahitian Princess, operated by Princess Cruises, arrived with 1151 passengers and crew members from Muscat and left for the Indian port city of Mumbai after a day's stay on November 3.
On the same day, Ocean Village Two docked at the cruise terminal with 2236 passengers and crew members for a two-day tour. Operated by P& O Cruises, the vessel had mainly British and Irish tourists when it arrived from Muscat and left for the south Indian city of Cochin.
Legend of the Seas, belonging to the Royal Caribbean International, arrived in Dubai on November 4 with 1689 passengers and crew members from Egypt's Safaga port and left for Mumbai, India, after a day's stay. The tourists were mostly American, British, German, Canadian and Australian nationals.
There was passengers exchange programme on all the three vessels.
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), which operate Dubai Cruise Terminal at the Port Rashid complex, organized grand welcome ceremonies for the three cruise ships with traditional local band in attendance.
It also organized a falcon show, while Big Bus and Seawings sold tours directly to the passengers.
DTCM put up information counters inside the terminal to assist the visitors about visiting Dubai landmarks and tourist attractions. Brochures and Dubai maps were made available to the visitors free of cost.
In 2008, the number of cruise tourists which Dubai hosted was over 182,000 from 82 calls made by cruise liners. This year, it is expected to cross 250,000 tourists from 100 cruise calls.
Next year, Dubai is expected to host 120 ships with over 325,000 passengers after the new Dubai Cruise Terminal gets operational in January.
The new terminal spanning an area of 3,450 square metres will have the capacity to handle more than three to four ships simultaneously.
The terminal will have facilities like money exchange, ATM machine, post office outlet, duty free shop, souvenir shops, and business centre with free internet access, Wi-Fi and VIP Majlis.
Dubai has been selected by a number of high profile cruise providers as their regional hub.
Costa Cruises made Dubai its regional cruise hub in 2006 giving the growing cruise industry a major boost.
Costa Cruises continues to innovate and from winter 2009 holidaymakers can travel from Dubai on the new Costa Luminosa.
There will be two new Costa ships arriving next month and in February next year.
Costa Luminosa will make 18 Calls with a total of 118,314 passengers from December 10th and April 12, 2010. Costa Deliziosa will make 10 Calls with 65,730 passengers between February 23 and May 11 next year.
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DTCM is the principal authority for the development of tourism in Dubai. Established in 1997, it is the sole licensing body for the hotel establishments and tourism-related businesses. Its supervisory role covers heritage sites, cruise terminal and convention bureau. DTCM has 18 overseas offices, including three in China and two in Saudi Arabia.
www.dubaitourism.ae and www.definitelydubai.ae
© Press Release 2009
